Monday, October 10 (Columbus Day):Today worked out really well. After last night's storm, the road up to launch was surprisingly dry. Two HG pilots (Bo Frazier and Dave Cameron) launched about 12:30 and had reasonable flights. Four PG pilots (Ryan, Steve, Greg and, of course, Patrick) followed, and they worked the light lift beyond the possible. Steve had two hours in the air, Patrick at least one and a half. Good flying! Dave took a second HG flight, launching about 3:00 pm, with some pleasant soaring (cumies were all around, though not over launch) and a really nice, two-step landing. Everyone was packed up by then and the last I saw of the Cox Field LZ was of David zipping up his bag, getting ready for the drive home to Albuquerque. Despite the weather forecasts, this turned out to be a real fine gathering, and I'll be looking forward to the next chance to get together with everybody. Fly safe!-Robin

Monday, October 10 (Columbus Day):Today worked out really well. After last night's storm, the road up to launch was surprisingly dry. Two HG pilots (Bo Frazier and Dave Cameron) launched about 12:30 and had reasonable flights. Four PG pilots (Ryan, Steve, Greg and, of course, Patrick) followed, and they worked the light lift beyond the possible. Steve had two hours in the air, Patrick at least one and a half. Good flying! Dave took a second HG flight, launching about 3:00 pm, with some pleasant soaring (cumies were all around, though not over launch) and a really nice, two-step landing. Everyone was packed up by then and the last I saw of the Cox Field LZ was of David zipping up his bag, getting ready for the drive home to Albuquerque. Despite the weather forecasts, this turned out to be a real fine gathering, and I'll be looking forward to the next chance to get together with everybody. Fly safe!-Robin

Dave Cameron (AKA Dave Coleman ) The political season is bleeding over into reality.

RobinHastings wrote:Sunday, October 9, 2016: We had another flyable day today. Not that we didn't have to exercise some patience, though. When I got to the Dry Canyon launch with Dave Coleman, Lee Boone and Taro Nihonyanagi we ran to the ramp (where the wind was blowing in nicely) to see... The Void. Featureless overcast stretched from the end of the ramp to the ends of the earth. Several PG pilots were already over at their launch, to the east of the hang gliding ramp, and eventually Lee, Taro and Dave went to see how that was going. I hung around the main launch area with Greg Clark. Eventually, though, the fog and clouds lifted enough to reveal Alamogordo, and then some blue sky and a lot of cumulus clouds, breaking up. Patrick was first among PG pilots, and Jan was probably second; soon we had 8 sky buoys cruising the ridge, getting a few hundred over launch and occasionally five or six hundred below it. We finally had Dave and Taro launch, about 12:30 pm when the finally burned off enough to reveal what looked like a pretty fun day. Taro and Dave both had extended sled runs, but by the time I'd driven Dave's Tacoma down to Cox Field, all of the PG's were heading from the mountain to the LZ. No XC records today, alas... Everyone had a wonderful time, however, and most of the PG pilots were up for 90 minutes or more. Dave convinced me to accompany him, with Mike Ellsworth as driver, up to the launch for a second flight (and my first of the day). We launched our hang gliders about 5:00 pm and found smooth, gentle lift all over the mountainside - if not an epic glassoff, it was a reasonable facsimile. The paragliding pilots were all down by then, kiting in the landing zone; Dave and I soared the mountain, and watched a distant thunderhead grow across the Tularosa Basin. We both finally decided, about 5:40, to put our feet back on the ground before the big storm had anything to say about it. We both had excellent landings, thanks to a 5 mph, steady breeze at Cox Field. We were so glad to have gone up to fly! We enjoyed a club barbecue after packing up, with hamburgers, bratwurst and hot dogs. A good visiting session was going on from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and then the invading thunderstorm really got out of hand. Lightning flashes and gust fronts all over town, and then a wind gust whipped our tarp off the hooks, at the top of the shade structure, and we scrambled to protect everything from the rain. That's about the time when I demonstrated leadership, and bugged out for home in Las Cruces. After all, I have to teach in the morning... There was flooding in parts of Alamogordo. It's been an interesting fly-in, and we have more of it to go; tomorrow (Columbus Day) may be the best of the weekend. Despite a lousy forecast, every day has been flyable so far. You shoulda been there... Keep that in mind when the Dry Canyon Memorial Day Fly-In comes around in May!-Robin

I didn't get too many good pictures on Monday, October 10th (Columbus Day) but it was another day for aviation. Conditions were a little light, so the paragliders ruled the sky that day at Dry Canyon. Steve Schmidt had two hours in the air, Patrick Harvey-Collard was up for one and a half. Greg Clark had a good flight, too, and so did Ryan from Utah. Dave Coleman flew his Moyes hang glider twice, and Bo Frazier got a soaring flight in his bowsprit Bautek. Nice weather, and amazingly, the road up to launch was pretty dry. (Where does all that water go to?) Mike, Bill and I packed up all the chairs, tables and coolers, then I drove for Dave so that he could get in that second flight (and Greg could recover his truck up at launch). It was a pleasant end to a pleasant gathering. I'll hope to see everyone again at the next one!-Robin

The Columbus Day Gathering, 2017, is a go. I'll be looking forward to meeting with pilots at the Cox Field LZ on Friday afternoon, October 6 (I have to be at home in Las Cruces until early afternoon that day). The long range forecast looks good. A slight chance of precipitation on Friday, then dry the rest of the weekend; winds light to moderate from the west and southwest. Temperatures in the 70's, maybe low 80's. It's looking good, folks - put it on your calendars for next weekend! No fees, no pressure, just get together and let's try to fly!-Robin

October 5, 2017: Here is my weather forecast for the Columbus Day Gathering this weekend. It looks pretty good in Alamogordo!-Robin

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6 through MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2017: For the Columbus Day weekend, Alamogordo looks like a fairly good place to be this time. It'll be dry all over our region, with high temperatures in the low 80's. In Las Cruces and Deming, the flying will be pretty chancy. Winds will be strong from the west on Friday, Sunday and Monday; on Saturday, they'll be light north. I wouldn't bet on Matt's Mountain (Mag Rim) and if you go to the Little Floridas, launch real early in the day; Saturday won't work at all for those two sites. For El Paso, Agave Hill and Nelson's Launch might work on Friday, Sunday and Monday, but again, go early. It will likely blow out later in the day. No chance for them on Saturday. Towing at the Sod Farm might be OK all weekend, depending on wind strength - but at least the direction should be consistent each day. Maybe Kilbourne Hole, being at ground level, will be soarable on Friday, Sunday and Monday. Alamogordo, now, looks to be the good place for the weekend, with our annual Columbus Day Gathering scheduled. Winds on Friday, Sunday and Monday will be moderate southwest, turning to moderate west/northwest on Monday afternoon. Saturday starts out light northwest, then turns to light west/northwest by late afternoon. So La Luz NW launch might be a good place for a first flight, and Dry Canyon later in the day. I plan to be in Alamogordo from Friday afternoon through Monday, ready to fly and to help others do the same. See you there, I hope!-Robin575-541-5744 home575-386-8212 cell

There were 2 events in Texas competing for attention and keeping pilots out of RGSA country. One was the Flying Man Brewery Opening and the other the XC Bohl fly in near Houston.

I can drink beer any day so I decided to use the good wx to close out the 115 miles from CU Hanggliding to the brewery in Austin. I failed, winding it down from 4k over LaGrange, TX airport (66 miles). I was out of day and had no driver so an airport (with facilities, FBO) was a welcome sight for ending my flight. I landed just to hear Mark Moore start clapping. He had tracked me and though I didn't ask for retrieve, he knew me well enough to know I was fool enough to leave without one. Best driver ever. Best friend one could ask for.

Saturday was challenging but I still saw 30 miles to turn point. Sunday was banging with a 42 mile out and return task that featured some great race conditions. Many PB's and first XC's.

Well done, Nate! I'm glad you got some real good airtime. We had a good Columbus Day Gathering, too - though saddened when Bo Frazier had a crash in his paraglider, while cruising over the launch and trying to straighten out a brake line. A number of cracks, including ribs and his pelvis, but the doctors in the ER were confident that he can fully recover. We had about 20 pilots show up for the event, a good mix of PG and HG, and pretty much everyone who wanted to fly got some airtime. We had wonderful visiting and barbecue each evening, thanks to Bill Cummings, Mike Ellsworth, and George and Velma Woodcock. (The pasole was marvelous, yet again - thank you, Velma!) The weather was warm and the skies were clear, the people were nice and the subjects of conversation covered most of the planet. We even had a visit by Jeff Clayton, a former RGSA ace hang glider pilot, who flew T-38's at Holloman AFB in the 90's. And Dave Church got his first HG flight in years, on Columbus Day in the Falcon 195 he used to fly. It was a pleasant time to be a pilot in Alamogordo for sure. Hope to see everyone there again next year!-Robin

Here is just one of the pictures from our Columbus Day Gathering. It was a beautiful, clear Saturday morning, with a perfect example of Earth shadow over the Cox Field LZ. (The pale pink is the light of sunrise on the atmosphere, looking to the west, and the blue beneath it is the shadow of our planet.) You can see the moon above, a day or two past full. There were a lot more vehicles besides my truck, when the event got rolling!-Robin